Ashes to Ashes
by stillplayingpretend
Summary: Harry died in the forest when he went to face Voldemort at the end of DH - but he couldn't leave his friends behind. Ghostly Harry will now do his best to defeat Voldemort from beyond the grave... AU 7th Year. A one-shot for the Houses Competitions Year 5. Prompt: Waking up as a ghost. Ghost!Harry. Harry/Ginny.


**A/N: House/Team: Badgers. Class Subject: Potions. Story Category: Standard. Prompt: [Event] waking up as a ghost. Word Count: 1444. AU where Harry dies in DH. Slightly OOC Harry at times. **

Harry's head hurt.

He sat up and looked around the dark, empty forest. The Death Eaters were gone, and an eerie calm had settled over the clearing where Harry had gone to meet Voldemort and face his end. Harry stretched out his arms in front of him and realized with a jolt that he could no longer see them. It was as if he were under his invisibility cloak; no matter how he waved his hands in front of his face, he simply could not see them. Harry closed his eyes then opened them again slowly. _Think._ The last thing he remembered was saying goodbye to Dumbledore and choosing to board a train, to go and be with his parents and Sirius and everyone else who had gone on before him. Only, at the last second, he had changed his mind. He couldn't leave Ron and Hermione to face Voldemort alone, and Ginny – no! He was mad, he couldn't leave her! So he had thrown open the compartment and jumped off the moving train, and the next thing he knew –

He was back in the clearing. And everyone was gone. And he could not see himself.

He needed to get back to Hogwarts.

Almost as soon as he had wished it, Harry felt himself flying through the air. It was a lot like being on a broom, only it was as if Harry himself _was _the broom. He saw lights flicker from within the Great Hall and willed himself toward them. He stopped with a jolt at the window and peered in. What he saw there made his stomach sink.

Voldemort was standing triumphantly over a large crowd of people, the remnants of Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix. A couple of people were crying while Death Eaters cackled and Voldemort raised his arms dramatically to make a point. Someone shouted something that caused Voldemort to reach out and give a pile of rags near his feet a swift kick. _No, not a pile of rags._ Thought Harry with dawning clarity.

Him. It was him, Harry! His body, which was even now being spit on by Death Eaters as Voldemort sneered over it. He was dead, when he had boarded the train at King's Cross station he had chosen death. Which meant that when he had jumped off, he had chosen to go back but had already died in the real world.

And that had made him a ghost.

Voldemort was gesturing, forcing the Sorting Hat onto a young man from the crowd. _Neville_, Harry realized in horror, just as he swung the sword of Gryffindor out of the hat and chopped off Nagini's head. Voldemort let out a bellow of rage, flicked his wand, and Neville collapsed onto the floor in agony. Nearby, Bellatrix Lestrange clapped her hands in anger and delight and added her c_rucio_ to his. Neville's screams of agony grew louder and louder, but Harry couldn't do anything, he was **dead**. But he couldn't just float there, he couldn't just watch Neville be tortured into insanity like his parents were, he couldn't, he **wouldn't**, he had to do SOMETHING!

"TOM!" Harry bellowed, launching himself into the Great Hall furiously.

Voldemort broke off the spell in shock and whirled to face the sound of Harry's voice. Harry willed himself to be visible, and with a faint white glow a translucent body appeared around him. There were gasps in the crowd as Harry floated to the ground and stood sternly in front of Voldemort. "Tom, stop this now." Harry said firmly, hoping Neville would take the hint to run away while he had the chance.

Voldemort stared opened-mouthed at Harry for a moment before schooling his face into an almost nonchalant sneer. "So, Potter. Too much of a coward to face death like a man? Pathetic."

Harry tried to shrug casually, but he was incredibly conscious of the heartbroken look on Ginny's face as she, Ron, and Hermione watched him from the crowd. "What can I say, Tom? I couldn't wait to watch you get taken down. There are no more horcruxes now. I died to make you a mortal man which means my death will never be in vain."

Voldemort let out an insane cry of rage, and Harry's corpse caught on fire. There were screams of anger and despair from the crowd behind him, but Harry only let out a laugh. "Is that really the best you can do Tom? Sorry to disappoint, I don't much care what you do to my body. I'm not using it anymore."

Hermione let out a little whimper, and Voldemort smiled viciously. "Maybe not. But they are. _Avada Kedavra!_"

"NO!" Harry shouted as he dove in front of the green light. The spell passed right through him and went streaming toward Ron. There was a strangled cry as Mrs. Weasley dove in front of Ron and forced him to the ground, taking the killing curse directly in the face.

Chaos followed. Harry felt spell after spell pass through him as he whirled around helplessly. He watched an outraged Ron dive toward Voldemort only to be intercepted by Bellatrix Lestrange herself. Ginny and Hermione forced their way to his side and began to duel her three on one. Somewhere in the room he could hear Voldemort cackling as he took lives mercilessly with the Elder Wand in hand. The Elder Wand – there just might still be a way –

Ron roared as Bellatrix disarmed him with a delicate wave of her wand. She smiled at him insanely, then cast the killing curse almost lazily. But she wasn't aiming for Ron. Harry froze as he watched Ginny fall to the floor like a marionette with her strings cut off. He stared at her motionless features for a moment, then let out a high pitched scream.

His ghostly wail echoed around the chambers with an ear-splitting screech. All around the Great Hall, duels ceased as friends and foe alike stopped to clutch their ears in pain. Harry stopped and tried to take a gasp of breath before remembering that he would never breathe again. Voldemort stood in the middle of the crowd, Elder Wand raised to do more havoc. He was terrified, Harry realized. The only thing Voldemort had ever _really_ feared, apart from Albus Dumbledore, was death. And the only threat that Voldemort had ever _really _acknowledged was the threat posed by Harry and the prophecy. And now Harry stood before him, a ghost. Death and prophecy tied into one. Harry floated closer until he was right in Voldemort's face. He smiled. "That's my wand you're holding, Riddle. I disarmed Malfoy, who disarmed Dumbledore. The Elder Wand is mine."

"I killed you," Voldemort spat. "Its allegiance is to me."

Harry smiled nastily. "You didn't defeat me, Riddle. I chose to die. I met you in the forest on my own terms. Which means that even in death, the Elder Wand belongs to me. I wonder…"

Harry reached out his hand and concentrated firmly. The wand in Voldemort's hand gave a twitch. Then another. The suddenly it turned, and just like the night that Harry had left the Dursley's forever, the wand shot some of Voldemort's own magic back at him. The golden spell engulfed him in a wave of magic that seemed to devour him from the inside out, leaving nothing but ashes behind. Harry reached out and deftly caught the Elder Wand as it fell to the floor. It floated in mid air for a moment, and then took on the same translucent ghostly quality as Harry. There was deathly silence in the hall for a moment, and then a roar went up from the crowd. The remaining Death Eaters were taken into custody. The dead were collected, and respects were paid. Harry floated back up to the ceiling and watched as what was left of his own remains were reverently placed with the rest of the fallen warriors of the night. Voldemort's ashes were simply vanished with a wave of McGonagall's wand. Ironic that they would both end up as ashes, after all this time.

"Just where do you think you're running off to, Potter?"

Harry whipped around and saw an ethereal light floating up from the ground below. It came to rest next to him, then slowly began to materialize into the ghostly form of Ginny Weasley.

"Ginny!" Harry said devastated. "Ginny, what have you done! You should have gone on, not stayed trapped here with me."

"Give it a rest Potter," Said Ginny, pulling Harry in for a kiss. "Anywhere I'm with you is better than heaven."


End file.
